Boy Scouts Assert ‘Good Faith Effort’ to Protect Youths

Boy Scouts Assert ‘Good Faith Effort’ to Protect Youths

The Boy Scouts of America, facing what could be an avalanche of unfavorable attention in coming weeks from the court-ordered release of internal files about inappropriate sexual behavior by youth leaders, issued a report on Tuesday by a professor who reviewed the files and found what she called “a good faith effort” to protect boys from harm.

The group’s senior leadership team also issued “an open letter to the scouting community” that included an apology for past wrongs, but also a strong assertion that decades of efforts to internally document deviant behavior within the Scouts — to purge bad leaders — had worked.

“Where those involved in scouting failed to protect, or worse, inflicted harm on children, we extend our deepest apologies and sympathies,” the letter said.

The Oregon Supreme Court ordered in June that thousands of pages of so-called “perversion files” be opened to public inspection, as part of an abuse case by a former Scout leader in Portland. The release was delayed by a court motion from the Boy Scouts requesting redaction of certain information, including the names of victims. One of the lawyers in the Portland case, Paul Mones, said the files would be available online when the redactions were com...